Sunshine is a nickname I was given in my first year of college from a friend. Falling Leaves is a book written by Adeline Yen Mah, following her book "Chinese Cinderella" and LEAVes if you haven't figured out yet, is my first initial plus my last name.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

5 - 2 Blake DeWitt is AWESOME-AMAZING

Nina and I got to the game early for batting practice, as usual. Since Steve Yeager was the guest at the Autograph Alley last time (May 5), we decided to see who was the former Dodger this time. Matt Luke. Anyone remember him? Apparently, he played for the Dodgers in 1998. He went from the Dodgers, to the Indians, to the Dodgers in 98. Was he traded for a player to be named later, which turned out to be him? LOL. Sounds like a laugh right? But it really did happen. I don't have my trivia book right now, but I'm not making it up. I only recognized his name because I received one of his baseball cards today. So, we went into the field level to watch batting practice. I saw Chan Ho Park toss an empty water bottle towards the Left Field Pavilion. It didn't go over the wall. When he went to go pick it up, I guess something caught his eye. Because he started filling the bottle up with whatever it was that caught his eye. At first, I thought it was pebbles or something. Turns out they were bugs, like roaches or beetles or something. He then took the bottle and showed it to some of the other pitchers. Schmidt later took the bottle and ran up to Saito and tried to surprise him with it. Saito didn't look shaken or anything. Nina and I decided we might try that center field area next time we go to a game. I texted JoAnna and it turned out she was going to be at this game too. So, Nina and I dawdled around till JoAnna got there. After we found each other, Nina and I headed up to our seats. Homer Simpson (okay, a guy in a Homer Simpson suit) threw out the first pitch. We saw them during batting practice in the Center Field area. You could see Marge, Homer, Bart, and Lisa. No Maggie. Before the game started, there was a moment of silence to honor those who died in the earthquake in China. I read an article in the L.A. times last week about it. Very sad.

Okay, onto the game. Penny struggled through the first inning, giving up a lead off walk. After a force out, he gave up two singles, which gave the Reds a 1 - 0 lead. Then in the Dodgers half the inning, they didn't put up much of a fight as the first three batters grounded out. Well, Andre put up a little fight. The first baseman flipped the ball to the pitcher covering. Andre just about jumped onto the pitchers back for a piggy-back ride. In the second inning, after striking out the first batter, Penny gave up another walk, which also came around to score. The Reds then had a 2 - 0 lead. The Reds scored another two runs in the next inning on a homer by Adam Dunn. The Dodgers finally get on board when Russ knocked in two runs when the Reds should've gotten out of the inning. Instead, the Reds got an error, the Dodgers got an extra chance, and Russ found himself at second while Andre and Pierre find themselves back in the dugout. The score is now 4 - 2.

Now, in the fourth inning, Penny walked the leadoff batter again. Who happened to be the opposing pitcher. Arroyo reached second on a sacrifice by Freel. He tried to go to third when Patterson flied out to Matt Kemp. Arroyo tagged up and tried to advance to third. Kemp made a throw to third and everyone held their breath to see what the call was. Arroyo was OUT. In the next inning, Matt Kemp showed off his arm again when he bobbled a ball hit by Griffey. Griffey tried to go to second, but was thrown out thanks to a great throw by Matt. Guess the two assists help us forgive Kemp for getting picked off first during the bottom of the fourth inning. The Reds scored their fifth and final run on a single by, who else but Adam Dunn.

With a 5 - 2 game going in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Dodgers looked like they were done. After Pierre grounded out, Ethier singled, and then Martin flied out... with two outs, it looked like Ethier was going to be stranded at first. After Martin flied out, Arroyo gave up four consecutive singles to TIE the game. With Hu in the batter's box, it looked like Penny's night was going to be over with Sweeney in the on-deck circle. Well, Hu struck out, and Penny came out to start the sixth inning. He then proceeded to walk the lead-off batter ... again. This time, he got out of the inning okay. He got a double play to end the inning, after getting a force out.

Now, the SEVENTH inning was interesting. Beimel came in, struck out Griffey. Phillips singled after being given a second chance. It looked like he was struck out, but it was ruled a foul tip that Russell wasn't able to hang onto. With a second chance at life, Phillips singled. Then when he tried to steal second, it looked like Martin threw him out at second. The umpires ruled it a balk. Then Beimel hit Dunn with a pitch. He's probably the one guy you didn't want to pitch to anyway. Then he ended the inning the same way he started it, with a strikeout. Broxton came in the eighth inning, and was throwing heaters! He hit 99 a couple times. Saito came up and gave us a 1-2-3 ninth. Really good, especially with Adam Dunn scheduled to bat fourth in the inning.

Ninth inning came and the score was still tied. Martin started off the inning with a single, and advanced to second on the errant throw by the new shortstop who replaced the previous shortstop who also made an errant throw earlier in the game with Martin running. Martin then advanced to third when Kent grounded out. With two bases open, the Reds decided to walk Loney and Kemp to get to the rookie Blake "Awesome-Amazing" DeWitt. Guess no one told them that DeWitt was 5 - for - 5 with the bases loaded. With only one out, guess they were just hoping for a double play while the rest of us were hoping for a base hit or a sacrifice or a walk or a hit by pitch, anything to bring the winning run (Martin) home. When Nomar comes back, PLEASE by all that is good and green on this earth, DO NOT (and I repeat absolutely DO NOT) send DeWitt back down. I believe this is the second game that I've been to this year that ended with a walk-off win. I can't remember how many I went to last year that resulted with a walk-off win... two maybe.

Other things about the game that have NOTHING to do with the Dodgers, well the game they played anyway. One of the guys in front of us was complaining about the incompetence of one of the concession stand workers at Dodger Stadium. He wanted a large soda. He figured, they sold two sizes of sodas, and he wanted the bigger one. Well, the concession person sold him a "large" soda but he actually wanted the "souvenir cup" soda. He went on and on about it. The worker ended up giving him not the drink he wanted, but like mixed several different sodas. And didn't bother to wipe up the cup. So the guy wanted to speak to the manager. The manager did give him the right size drink and the right size drink after all that drama. I'm not going to say what I thought about it. You can form your own opinions. And what's a baseball game without the wave? I don't think they got a wave going till the fifth or sixth inning. The people in front of us left after the seventh or eighth inning. I forget. As soon as they left, the four of us sitting behind them promptly put our feet on the top of their empty seats. Nina and I talked about the errors. She thought the error was put on the first baseman both times, but I told her no, it was on whoever threw it. She thought it should've been on the first baseman because he didn't catch the ball. I told her that he couldn't catch them because they were bad throws. The first error was on a low throw that bounced in the dirt. The second error just sailed over the first baseman's head. And tonight must've been the night for celebrities, if you include the Simpsons too. There was Nick Lachey (who used to be married to a Simpson), James Denton, Heidi from the Hills, and Melissa Gilbert. Anyone else in attendance? Any SoSG?

Oh yeah. Blake "Awesome-Amazing" DeWitt is not 6-for-6 with the bases loaded.